New Year
by anotherweasley
Summary: Post "Millennium." Frank Black meets someone unexpected on his way home.


New Year  
By: Olivia  
  
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?...We'll talk a cup o'kindess yet, for auld lang syne."-Robert Burns-"Auld Land Syne"  
  
"How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense,/And love th'offender, yet detest th'offense."-Alexander Pope-"Eloisa to Abelard"  
  
  
The radio announcer was screaming in delight as Frank and his daughter, Jordan, listened from inside their red Jeep. "Happy New Year folks! It is the start of the new Millennium! It is officially 2001!"  
  
Frank turned off the radio as he pulled into their driveway. "That's enough of that. We're home, sweetie."  
  
Jordan smiled up at her Father. They were home. They were together again and no one was going to separate them. The Millennium Group, his in-laws trying to gain custody of Jordan, the FBI, was all behind them now. It was a new year. He had helped Agents Mulder and Scully and now he and his daughter could start a whole new life together free from danger.  
  
Frank and Jordan got out of the jeep and started walking towards their house. Frank stopped suddenly and grabbed Jordan's hand when he noticed that someone was waiting for him on his front porch. Maybe the danger wasn't over.  
  
"Who are you?" Frank called out angrily.  
  
"Frank?" a woman's voice called out.  
  
It was then that Frank recognized the voice. He took a few steps closer to the woman until he could see her face and not be blinded by the front sensor lights.  
  
"Emma," was all Frank could say.  
  
Emma tried to smile. "It's been awhile hasn't it, Frank?"  
  
Frank looked at her. He could see how tired she was. But it was more than that. There was pain behind her eyes. About a year ago, Frank would have trusted the lives of himself and his daughter with her, but now, he wasn't so sure.  
  
Emma smiled at Jordan. "Hi, Jordan."  
  
"Hello," said Jordan warily. She sensed the uneasiness between these two and so she herself felt uneasy.  
  
"Honey, why don't you go inside while Agent Hollis and I have a talk. You get ready for bed and I'll be in shortly to tuck you in, okay?"  
  
Jordan simply nodded as Frank opened the door. Jordan walked inside the house leaving the two outside in the bitter January weather.  
  
"Your not exactly the person I was expecting to see today of all days," said Frank trying to draw Emma out. He wanted to know why she was here. Had she come here to betray him again? Was she friend or foe?  
  
"I know I'm probably the last person you'd ever want to see again," Emma's voice started to crack for reasons which had nothing to do with the cold, "but I just had to come here and tell you that I'm sorry about what happened a year ago. I never meant to hurt you or Jordan..."  
  
Frank interrupted her. He wasn't enjoying this trip down memory lane. "How's your Father doing?"  
  
"Good. He's doing well. It's like he never had Alzheimer's."  
  
"Look, Agent Hollis," Frank put his hand on her arm. Their eyes locked and Frank saw it all. He had forgotten how young and fresh out of the Academy she had been, and still was for that matter. He saw how she had looked to him as her friend and mentor, her partner. He saw memories of her fighting the Millennium Group with him, dragging her reputation through the mud to follow him because she was loyal and believed he was right. Finally he remembered the last time he had seen her. The elevators closed on him as she watched him being escorted out of Quantico, out of the FBI forever.  
  
Frank tried to speak again. This time his voice was full of compassion. "Emma, you were faced with a tough choice back then. You could either join the Millennium Group and save your Father from Alzheimer's or help me fight the Group. Once they had you, they wanted you to get me out of the FBI. I warned you not to go with them, but who's to say I wouldn't have made the same choice had it been Catherine or Jordan in pain. Sometimes we are faced with a choice for which there is no easy answer. I warned you not to get involved with them because I was worried about you. You loved your Father. You don't need to justify that to me."  
  
A tear fell down Emma's cheek that she quickly brushed away with her hand. "What you don't know, what I never got a chance to tell you, is that I tried to stop it, I tried to contact Watts to tell him not to do the operation, but it was too late. My Father was back again; he was sane. And then even he too told me that I shouldn't have done it. It was too late, Frank. They had me and they told me to get you out of the FBI. I couldn't say no."  
  
Tears were quickly streaking down Emma's face and Frank reached out and pulled her into an embrace. Emma gratefully returned the hug.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Frank. You'll never know how sorry I am. I saved my Father, but I lost my soul in the process."  
  
"It's okay, Emma. It's okay," Frank said trying to reassure her. He understood why she had done it. "It wasn't like you tried to have me killed or anything."  
  
This remark started Emma laughing through her tears. As Frank released her from their hug, he figured she hadn't laughed in a long time. He stared to chuckle himself. He then realized that he too hadn't laughed in a long time. Nothing like laughing to release tension and stress.  
  
After they had finished laughing, there was an awkward moment.  
  
"So, Emma, aren't you worried that the Group will find out you've been talking to me?"  
  
Emma shook her head. "A few months ago the Group officially disbanded. Unofficially they went underground. Watts informed me that my services were no longer needed. I guess I already did what they needed me to do. And then they kept their eyes on me. You know, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."  
  
Frank nodded. "So you're free."  
  
"For now. I just...everyday I just keep wondering if Big Brother is watching me, waiting for just a specific moment to worm their way back into my life. No one leaves the Group."  
  
"That's where you're wrong, Emma. I left."  
  
Emma smiled. "You're right. I had forgotten about that."  
  
"So if this all took place a few months ago, what took you so long to come see me?"  
  
Emma looked down at the floor and then back up at Frank. "I didn't know if you'd ever want to see me again. Took me some time to work up the nerve to come see you and apologize. I heard about you checking yourself into that Psychiatric Center and your in-laws fighting you for custody of Jordan. It was all my fault."  
  
Frank shook his head. "None of that was your fault. I placed work above my family obligations and that's where it got me."  
  
"No," said Emma firmly, "You were trying to make the world a safer place your daughter and for everyone else."  
  
"And yet here we are Emma, the beginning of the Millennium. The world hasn't ended. Makes me wonder if the Group's agenda didn't make a big fuss about nothing."  
  
Emma shrugged. "Who knows, but it still doesn't take away the good you've done, the lives you saved."  
  
"You too had a part in that, Emma. And don't you forget that either."  
  
They shared a smile.  
  
"I figured that if there was one day that you would feel more forgiving towards me, it would be today. At least I hoped it would be. And if not, well we'd get to see the end of the world together."  
  
Frank laughed and put his arm around Emma's shoulders. "It's not the end. It's just the beginning. Come on inside and get warm. We'll freeze to death if we say out here."  
  
And with that Frank led Emma into the warm house where Jordan was waiting on the steps leading to the second floor. Frank picked her up into a hug sending her into giggles as he, Jordan, and Emma made their way into the living room to reminisce on good times past and to catch up on the time which they had been apart. 


End file.
